Dewar Returns For Scotland 7s

Experienced sevens forward Struan Dewar will return from long-term injury for the fourth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in New Zealand (Friday 1 and Saturday 2 February).This is the first time Dewar has been involved on the World Series this season. He was last in competitive action on the circuit in Glasgow last May, but was also involved with the team’s World Cup qualifier in Portugal during the summer.Also returning from injury will be Chris Dean who won his first cap for Scotland 7s in the opening round of this season’s circuit on the Gold Coast, Australia. The side will be captained once again by Colin Gregor and will be bolstered with a full compliment of professional players, including James Johnstone, the Glasgow Warriors player who has been with the abbreviated national squad since November. Scotland 7s interim head coach, Stephen Gemmell, said: “Everyone involved with the team have been disappointed with our World Series results so far. The focus in the next couple of weeks is to improve the accuracy and consistency in our game and that is something the players have been working hard at in training.””We have a tough group with ties against Portugal, Fiji and Australia. However, we beat Fiji in South Africa in the last leg of the circuit and Australia in Dubai, so we have recent victories against our opposition that the players can draw on.”Scotland 7s head coach Phil Greening has not been coaching the Scotland 7s squad in the recent weeks and is unable to lead the team for the next two tournaments, due to personal reasons. Therefore, Stephen Gemmell who has a wealth of previous coaching experience with the abbreviated team, has been appointed. The team will play Fiji (2.50am, UK time), Portugal (5.24am, UK time) and Australia (8.28am, UK time) on day one of the New Zealand sevens, with their day two fixtures determined by these results. Scotland 7s squad for New Zealand and Las Vegas legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series: James Johnstone (Glasgow Warriors), Michael Fedo (Scotland 7s), Struan Dewar (Scotland 7s), Christopher Dean (Scotland 7s EDP), Colin Gregor (captain) (Scotland 7s), Mark Robertson (Scotland 7s), Andrew Turnbull (Scotland 7s), Colin Shaw (Scotland 7s), Scott Riddell (Scotland 7s), Michael Maltman (Scotland 7s), James Fleming (Scotland 7s) and Russell Weir (Scotland 7s).